In this series I’m going to share some people who illustrate that being exceptional is all about the basics, honed to perfection through countless hours of practice.

One of the most important things a musician can do on their path to mastery is to keep going back to the basics. It might not be glamorous, but the basics will give you the foundation from which everything you can imagine doing on the instrument will flourish.

Check out this video of Zakk Wylde playing an unassisted guitar solo on the No Rest For the Wicked tour when he was only 19 years old.

If you’re not interested in watching the whole thing just skip forward to 8:49. At this point he starts to destroy some pentatonic runs.

Some of you may say that this is just some basic bs. That it’s not some 8-finger hybrid scale sweep tap extravaganza.

Well, first off… can you do this?

And can you do it in front of that many people?

At that speed, with that kind of command, with your guitar hanging that low?